Climate One at The Commonwealth Club announces that Dr. Katharine Hayhoe will be awarded the eighth annual Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication. The $15,000 award is given to a natural or social scientist who has made extraordinary scientific contributions and communicated that knowledge to a broad public in a clear and compelling fashion. The award was established in honor of Stephen Henry Schneider, one of the founding fathers of climatology who died suddenly in 2010.

The award jurors are Naomi Oreskes (Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University), Ben Santer (Climate Researcher, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), and Cristine Russell (Senior Fellow, Environment and Natural Resources Program, Harvard University). The jury solicited nominations from a broad spectrum of anonymous experts in the fields of science and communication. The jurors decided that Hayhoe exemplifies the rare ability to be both a superb scientist and powerful communicator in the mold of Stephen Schneider.

Statement from Juror Oreskes, “For many years, Katharine Hayhoe has been a unique voice in the climate communication world. With her patience, her empathy and her abiding Christian faith, she has been able to reach audiences that other climate scientists have not been able to reach.”

Juror Santer said, “Katharine Hayhoe is one of the pre-eminent climate science communicators in the world, and a very deserving winner of the 2018 Schneider Award. Her voice is authentic and unique. She has technical expertise in the analysis of the regional-scale details of climate change, a deep personal spirituality, a Schneider-like ability to find apt metaphors and a facility for communicating with her peers, presidents and ordinary citizens. When Katharine speaks about climate change, people listen.”

Hayhoe will receive the award at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco this winter. The award is presented by Climate One, a project of The Commonwealth Club of California, and underwritten by Tom R. Burns, Nora Machado and Michael Haas.

about me

I write about the things I'm interested in: the fascinating nuances of climate science, why a changing climate matters to real people, how we're going to solve it, and what faith has to do with fixing this global challenge.